Plastic bags have been widely utilized at checkout counters where bags are filled. Holders have been devised for holding a plurality of collapsed plastic bags and allowing serial dispensing thereof when the bags are employed in the bagging operation. A commonly employed type of plastic bag is the so-called T-shirt plastic bag which has apertured side handle flaps and a hole in an upper bag portion for receiving a bag hook to provide a degree of support for the bag.
There has been increasing use of more durable reusable bags. The reusable bags come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are constructed of a variety of materials. The standard bag holder structure utilized to support T-shirt plastic bags and other comparable plastic bags cannot readily be utilized with most reusable bag constructions.
As a consequence, bag holders devised specifically for retention of reusable bags have been devised. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0314507, published Dec. 16, 2010 and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0138499, published May 22, 2014 illustrate adjustable bag retaining apparatus comprising a hook or clamp, the hook or clamp capable of vertical sliding movement on or in a track, mast, stand, support or hollow sleeve for accommodating bags of different sizes for packing.
Other patent documents considered to be representative of the state of the art in the field of this invention are: U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,814, issued Oct. 8, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,747, issued Apr. 9, 2002, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0210200, published Sep. 21, 2006, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2010/0021088, published Jan. 28, 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 8,100,370, issued Jan. 24, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,882,061, issued Nov. 11, 2014, U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,845, issued Nov. 14, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,507, issued Mar. 16, 2010 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,063, issued Mar. 28, 2000.